What is cryotherapy good for?
Cryotherapy (cold treatment) is a procedure that improves muscle performance, enhances range of motion and accelerates the speed of recovery procedure.
It is used as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory procedure for muscle and joint pain.
Cold treatment restores the human body from strenuous exercise or workout and reduces the level of lactic acid in the body by 40-60% after just one three-minute session of whole-body cryotherapy.
The cryotherapy session (the temperature in the cryocabin is lowered to -110 to -150 °C) lasts two to three minutes. The cryotherapy procedure can be performed every day after strenuous physical activity or simply for preventive or rehabilitative purposes.
Indications for cryotherapy
- hematoma
- muscle stretching and tearing
- sprain
- tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon)
- arthritis
- osteoarthritis
- aponeuroses
- epicondylitis
- spasticity
Contraindications for cryotherapy
- cryoglobulinemia (cold allergy)
- Raynaud’s syndrome
- diabetes
How often can you go to cryotherapy?
To prevent or alleviate the problem, we recommend using cryotherapy a maximum of twice a day. The effect of one session lasts 4-6 hours.
About cryotherapy or cold treatment
Cold therapy aka cold treatment plays an important role in the first aid for sports injuries.
Sports injuries often involve soft tissue damage, muscle tension, ligament dislocation and joint damage, resulting in swelling.
In injury first aid, R.I.C.E. principle (Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate) is videly acknowledged. Cold treatment should be started immediately after injury and continued regularly for 48 hours. Cryotherapy is also an important treatment in the later recovery stages of an injury.
Cold therapy has applications in various medical fields: rheumatology, orthopedics, surgery, sports medicine, neurology and rehabilitation treatment.
A good healing effect occurs with massage and physiotherapy. Topical cold treatment is primarily intended to relieve acute inflammation and severe pain.
Topical cold treatment is performed with a special device that treats the patient’s painful area. The anti-inflammatory effect of cold therapy is mediated by the nervous system, inhibiting the mechanism of inflammation.
Cold treatment does not have many side effects and severe contraindications (except for children, pregnant women and people with heart diseases).
In the case of short-term cryotherapy (duration up to 3 minutes), the surface of the tissue is cooled down.
The duration of the long cryotherapy procedure is 3 to 10 minutes, during which the intramuscular temperature is reduced.